By Jaime Jo Wright and Chloe JoAnne

As a former middle school librarian, I got burnt out on cheap and trashy YA books years ago. Where are the good books that actually promoted values and healthy relationships? Where are the books for teens that are populated with normal characters and situations? What happened to storytelling being more important than checking all the political activism and cultural trend boxes?

Hallelujah, there’s a glimmer of hope!

Jaime Jo Wright and her teenage daughter Chloe JoAnne have teamed up to write a wholesome and hilarious high school rom com about baseball, AI, and complicated relationships. If there were more YA books out there like this, I wouldn’t have quit reading that genre!

Brielle is sick and tired of her family and friends pressuring her to get a boyfriend. She’s perfectly content with her books and baseball obsession. In a desperate attempt for some peace and quiet, she uses AI to create some fake pictures of a “boyfriend” she met on vacation named Brooks Mason. Her family and friends buy her story, but her genius plan goes awry when baseball athlete Brooks Mason transfers to her high school – and he is the spitting image of her AI boyfriend.

Pros: I was surprised at how much I liked this book. I was laughing out loud for page after page and ended up binge reading most of it. Aside from the rom-com humor, the thing I appreciated the most about this book was how healthy it was. The book subtly addressed authenticity, healthy relationships, and different family dynamics. There was no smut, language, or disrespect of authority. It was a book you could safely give to kids while knowing they would walk away, not just entertained, but with a model of healthy teen living.

Cons: I’m still not going to read YA books, but if Jaime Jo and Chloe JoAnne write another book, I’ll read it.

The Bottom Line: At last, an authentic and healthy YA rom-com!